1st Cavalry troops on Leyte Island
U.S. 1st Cavalry troops move into the sands of Leyte Island's beaches, after rushing ashore from the landing barges of a Coast Guard-manned landing craft. One of the soldiers said "Hug the dirt, mates, or you'll get your back scratched." October 1944. (Coast Guard)

Battleships move in the Lingayen Gulf
USS Pennsylvania and battleship of Colorado class followed by three cruisers move in line into Lingayen Gulf preceding the landing on Luzon, Philippines, January 1945.

Engine control room U.S.S. Batfish
Sailor at work in the electric engine control room of U.S.S. Batfish "SS-310" during her seventh war patrol in the Philippine Sea, June 1945. She took her name from the "Ferocious Fish" during her seventh War patrol and sank three Submarines, plus eleven other vessels for a total of over 37,000 tons of enemy ships.

First wave from 6th Army landing on Luzon
A line of Coast Guard landing crafts, sweeping through the waters of Lingayen Gulf, carries the first wave of U.S. troops from 6th Army landing on Luzon to the beaches of Luzon, after a terrific naval bombardment of Japanese shore positions on Jan. 9, 1945. PhoM1c. Ted Needham. (Coast Guard)

GI patient in the 36th Evac. Hospital Palo, Leyte
1st Lt. Phyllis Hocking adjusts glucose injection apparatus for a GI patient in the 36th Evac. Hospital in Palo, Leyte. P.I. quartered in the Church of the Transfiguration, as the congregation kneels during Christmas Eve services. December 24, 1944. (Army Staff)

Navy cruiser on patrol, Battle of Mindoro
Gun crews of a US Navy cruiser scan the skies for Japanese Kamikaze planes during the landing on Mindoro island, 15 December 1944. Two 5" (127mm) guns are ready while inboard 20mm anti-craft crews are ready to act.

Task Group 38.3 enter Ulithi Atoll
Task Group 38.3 enter Ulithi anchorage after strikes against the Japanese Army and Navy in the Philippines. Ships in line are USS Langley, Ticonderoga, Washington, North Carolina, South Dakota, Santa Fe, Biloxi, Mobile, and Oakland. December 1944.

U.S. Seventh Fleet at Leyte Island, A-Day
U.S. Seventh Fleet under Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid with 701 ships, including 157 warships. The armada of US ships steams along the coast of Leyte Island in the Philippines as dawn of A-Day in the Pacific, October 1944.

U.S. Sixth Army lands on Leyte Island
Landing craft loaded with troops from U.S. Sixth Army sweep toward the beaches of Leyte Island as American and Japanese planes battle overhead. Troops watch the drama being written in the skies as they approach the hellfire on the shore, 17 October 1944 .
The Leyte invasion was the largest amphibious operation mounted by American and Allied forces to date in the Pacific theater. The U.S. Sixth Army under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger was the main combat force, which consisted of two corps of two divisions each. Maj. Gen. Franklin C. Sibert's X Corps included the 1st Cavalry Division and the 24th Infantry Division.